Friday, 25 March 2022

Serious Angel - Jan Twardowski translated by Sarah Lawson and Malgorzata Koraszewska - Waxing Series No. 3

Serious Angel
Waxing Series No. 3
Sarah Lawson (Translator)
Malgorzata Koraszewska (Translator)
ISBN 9781904556176
2003


I picked up this volume for a few reasons. First Jan’s grandniece recommended his poetry to me. She is the confirmation sponsor of my oldest daughter. Second our parish has been staffed by Polish Pallottine Fathers and I want to pass the book on to our priest. And third just from the bit I gleamed about Father Twardowski trying to track down some of his work in English was inspiring. I wish more of his works were available in translation. This book was issued in a limited edition run of 350 copies. And I am very thankful I was able to track one down. The description of this volume is:

“Jan Twardowski, Poland's best-known poet, can finally be read in English thanks to this selection of translated poems. As a parish priest currently living and working in Warsaw, his poems are, not surprisingly, about religion, but in a non-traditional way. The approach is often a wry, oblique one, based on real experience and humor, rather than on dry theological premises. Waxwing Series.”

The introduction to this volume begins with these words:

“Jan Twardowski (1915-) is the best-loved poet in Poland. Even People who do not usually read poetry light up at the mention of his name and quote you a few lines. He has been writing and publishing prolifically since 1959, and his books have sold in the hundreds of thousands, yet he has been almost completely unknown in the English-speaking world.”

And further on:

“When he writes about death, love, and loss, he writes frankly as a man who has experienced them himself and understands the pain of others. His poems are simple – at least on the surface – and full of concrete images and startling juxtapositions.”

Also:

“Father Twardowski’s wry humour and simplicity may almost make you forget that he is often writing about the most profound mysteries of the Christian faith. He tackles the great subjects of human life and gets to the emotional essence of them.”

The poems in this collection are:

Sunt Lacrimaew Rerum
No
At the Tail End
Request
He Looked
Overheard and Noted Down
The World
Why
Trees and Non-Believers
I do not Fabricate
Humble
Explanation
When Great Art is too Great
Words
The Absent One Is
A Childless Angel
About a Sparrow
About the Little Ones
I am Afraid of Your Love
Nothing More
Before a Journey
A Serious Angel
About Pain
Ant Dragon-Fly Ladybird
The Certainty of Uncertainty
Saint Nitwit
I Trusted the Road
Happiness
A Hare Turns White

I worked my way through these poems the day the book arrived. Then later I went back through and read some randomly. It is an excellent collection of poems. And With only one other volume available in English it leaves an ache in my heart. 

     Why

     Why
     did you create
     our joy, anxiety,
     our despair and wit,
     our happiness, unhappiness
     out of nothing

     Humble

     God omnipotent but so humble

     He is everywhere but seen nowhere
     He is hanging on to the cross with both hands

     pure because of having everything He has nothing 
                                        For Himself

     He hears patiently that He will be of no further use

     only the Almighty can be so small

     still they say to Him out of spite
     that He has a Jew for a Son

     About Pain

     What pain can change into 
     into anger into stamping foot
     into an open book closed slowly
     into a prayer
     private crying directly to the pillow
     a letter written five times incoherent and nonsensical
     silence at the table
     pacing up and down around the truth
     touching your lonely mouth with a teaspoon
     into something impossible – still not the last
     into the same love again
     taking a long time to end

     so allow us Mother
     let the pain continue

Those are three of the poems that grabbed me most during my first read through. This is an excellent collection of poetry. I am thankful the name Jan Twardowski was mentioned to me. And will keep my eyes out for more of his works to be translated into English. An excellent collection. Well worth the read if you can track it down. According to Goodreads Jan Twardowski has 90 works, most are in Polish, two translated into English, and a few translated into Spanish. If you can read him in the original Polish or other translated languages based on my reading of these poems I would recommend you give his works a try.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! 


Books by Jan Twardowski in English:
Kiedy Mowisz When You Say (bilingual edition)
Country Bumpkins Move to Paris: Letters Home 1970 to 1972 (Editor)
Country Bumpkins Move to London: Letters Home 1979 to 1983 (editor)
…
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Thursday, 24 March 2022

Charles de Foucauld - J Frawley - CTS Biographies

Charles de Foucauld
J. Frawley
Catholic Truth Society
ISBN 9781860820809
CTS Booklet B659


I had this booklet on a list of out-of-print titles from the Catholic Truth Society that I have interest in tracking down. That list currently sits at about 120 volumes. And I have about another 200 I want to read that are still in print or available as eBooks. Over the last several years I have read over 275 volumes from the Catholic Truth Society. What drew me to this one was the coming canonization of de Foucauld. He is to be canonized on 15 May 2022, unless there is another covid-19 delay. I reached out to the CTS and they plan a volume on Charles, I am not sure if it will be a reprint of this volume or if it will be a new work on the soon to be saint. This volume was published in 2000, and is dedicated to the author who passed away late in 1999. The process o his canonization began in 1927, he was declared Venerable by Saint John Paul II on 24 April 2001. Blessed by Pope Benedict XVI on 13 November 2005. The description of this booklet is:

“In December 1916, deep in the Sahara, an unknown French hermit was shot through the head and dumped in a ditch. He was 58. An accomplished geographer, linguist and explorer, in youth he had been a disillusioned soldier, athirst and aristocratic playboy. Why at 30 did he abandon family, career, everything, to search for ‘the last place’, close to the poor and suffering? This booklet describes his epic pilgrimage from misery to love and of silent witness to Christ among the Tuareg of the Sahara, including his writings and prayers, and the work being done today by Little Brothers and Sisters of Jesus.”

And the chapters are:

Introduction
Early Life
     Adolescence
     The Soldier
     The Explorer
     Failed Love
Conversion
     The Trappist
     In the Holy Land
Algeria: Beni Abbes
     Deeper in the Desert
     Brother Michael
     The Tuareg Dictionary
     Charles’ Idea for an Order
     Return to Tamanrasset
     World War: the Fort at Tamanrasset
Some Writings of Brother Charles
     For the Sake of Jesus and the Gospel
     The Young Agnostic
     Vocation: ‘as Jesus of Nazareth’
     Your Rule
     Poor Like Jesus
     Your Way of Praying
     Your Relationship with Others
     ‘All Things to All People’
     Preparing for Death
The Legacy of Brother Charles
     The Little Brothers
     The Little Sisters
To Contact for Further Information

Many years ago I read a different biography called Charles de Foucauld: Journey of the Spirit by Cathy Wright. At the time I found it a fascinating read, but never really returned to the subject matter. Now with his canonization imminent I am certain we will see a flood of books about him and his work. This volume if you can track it down is an excellent introduction. The first two thirds of the book is biography and the final part is a series of quotes from his pen. With a short two pages on the work at the time of the writing of the book. I highlighted many passages while reading this volume. I will share many of them here separating the ones about his life from those by his own hand.

“Charles has shown himself to be an uncooperative student, more interested in the girls who worked in the shops he frequented than he was in his studies. Due to his reading of sceptical literature, he had already lost his faith. He was later to describe his frame of mind thus: “At seventeen I was all egoism, all impiety, all desire for evil, I was as one bewitched.”

“When he met the woman again a few years before his death she told him she had abandoned her practice of the faith because of his treatment of her. Charles, who was by then a priest and a mystic, must have been profoundly disturbed by the revelation.”

“Charles now became Brother Marie Alberic and began the Cistercian routine of early rising, Divine Office, Mass, private prayer and manual labour with a few sparse meals consisting mainly of bread, cheese, and vegetables. It was an excellent way of life for someone whose dearest wish was to keep Our Lord company in His sufferings. But Charles had arranged before his entry into Our Lady of the Snows that, after six months of probation, he would be transferred to a poorer monastery in Syria.”

“Mitigations to the Cistercian rule made at about that time did not please Charles. He began to dream of two new congregations of men and women who would follow Our Lord’s life more to the rule: stricter poverty; much prayer but not in choir; communal life in smaller groups, without a hierarchy – everyone was to be a brother and sister of Jesus.”

“However, he still longed for a life of poverty, prayer and service outside the monastic regime. Soon his superiors, recognising that he had a very special vocation, released him from his monastic vows.”

Below are quotes from his own writings:

“Your rule: to follow me. To do what I would do. Ask yourself in everything: ‘What would our Lord have done?’, and do it. This is the only rule you have, but it is an absolute rule. (from his meditations)”

“Let us be persons of desire and of prayer. Let us never believe anything to be impossible: God can do all. (from his meditations)”

“We should read the Gospel with love, as though we were sitting at the feet of Jesus, at the feet of the Beloved, listening to him speak to us. (from a letter)”

“Adoration, wordless admiration, that is the most eloquent form of prayer: that wordless admiration which contains the most passionate declaration of love. (from his meditations)”

“See Jesus in every human being, and act on that vision: with goodness, respect, love, humility, gentleness … Live for Jesus, more than for yourself. (from his meditations)”

“All Christians have to be apostles. That is not a counsel, it is a commandment of love. Lay people should all be apostles towards everybody they can reach: those that are their friends first, but not only them. Love has nothing narrow about it. It takes in all those whom the heart of Jesus embraces. (from a letter)”

And a final quote from the last section of the book The Future:

“What does the future of the groups funded by Br. Charles hold? Like all Christian groups they are faced by increasing secularisation, and by the decrease of the practice of faith in Western countries. Yet their emphasis on a Christian witness that speaks through its deeds, rather than by its preaching, is in tune with what many younger people are seeking today. By holding on to their vocations of being with and yet by also working for those who are excluded from society, the Charles de Foucauld family will continue to inspire Christians and non-Christians alike.”

The following prayer from this volume is also in The Prayerful Hour: A Scriptural Companion to Eucharistic Adoration by Florian Racine. I have been praying it daily since encountering it there, 

My Father, I abandon myself to you, 
do with me what you will. 
Whatever you do with me, I thank you. 
I am ready for everything, I accept everything. 
So long as your will is done in me, 
in all your creatures, 
I desire nothing else, my God. 
I give back my soul into your hands. 
I give it to you, my God, 
with all the love of my heart, 
because I love you, 
and because for me it is a necessity of love to give myself, 
to give myself back into your hands without measure, 
with an infinite confidence, 
for you are my Father.  

This book is an excellent read a great book in a wonderful series from the Catholic Truth Society. I highly recommend it. The CTS has mad an audio version of this booklet, it is available here.

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

For reviews of other books in the CTS Biographies series click here.

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Wednesday, 23 March 2022

Eat Stop Eat - Brad Pilon

Eat Stop Eat:
Revised Edition
ISBN 9781775110804
ASIN B076134V88


First I have followed Brad Pilon on social media for many years. Second I know his advice works because I know several people who have had success using his lifestyle. Third, I really wish I had picked this us and read it years ago. The description of this book is:

“The Official Eat Stop Eat by Brad Pilon. Thousands of books have been written about the unique benefits of Intermittent Fasting and its ability to help people lose weight and improve health, but Eat Stop Eat was one of the first. Far from being just another fad, Eat Stop Eat is your indispensable guide to the latest science behind using intermittent fasting for simple yet effective weight loss, without unneeded complexity or the need to deprive yourself of the foods you love to eat.”

And the chapters are:

A Special Note on This Edition
Preface
How It All Started
Introduction
The Fasted State
The Disappearance of the Fasted State
Forget Everything You Have Ever Read about Fasting
Fasting and Your Metabolism
Fasting and Exercise
Fasting and Your Brain
Fasting and Your Muscle Mass
Fasting and Hunger
Fasting and Blood Sugar Levels
Other Misconceptions of Fasting
The Health Benefits of Fasting
Health Benefits – The Conclusion
The Eat Stop Eat Way of Life
How to Fast Eat Stop Eat Style
Eat Stop Eat – Why Not Longer Fasts?
How to Eat, Eat Stop Eat Style
What to Do While Fasting
Fasting and Women (Special Considerations)
How to Work Out with Eat Stop Eat
Designing Your Own Workout Program
Other Health Benefits of Exercise
How to “Keep It Off” with Eat Stop Eat
Eat Stop Eat as a Form of Physical Training
Eat Stop Eat Conclusions
Eat Stop Eat FAQs
References

I am uncertain why it took me so long to get around to reading this book. As a practicing Catholic I have no issues with fasting. I have lost serious weight each of the past three decades. And now in my mid 50’s I can’t hammer my body the way I did when I was 20, 30, or even 40. Old injuries from sports have come back and haunt me. Aches and pains had become a norm. I though about the success with this method that friends and even my younger brother have had and I decided to go back and start at the beginning. I only highlighted one passage my first time through this book:

“I am not going to tell you that sugar is the cause of our obesity problem, because it’s not—neither is fat. Part of the cause of our obesity problem is that we are failing to realize that we’re looking for the answer in the wrong places. 

Obesity is not created by one specific macronutrient in our diet. In fact, it’s not the diet at all. In my opinion, the number one cause of our obesity epidemic is abundance. There simply is too much food available for us to consume. As I said earlier, each day in the United States, the food industry produces enough food to supply every single person with almost 4,000 calories (almost double what we typically need in a day).”

This section from the chapter ‘The Eat Stop Eat Way of Life’ is about half way through the book. Once I got started I had a really hard time putting the book down. But in order to really process the material I read it over several days. The advice in this volume is excellent. I love that Brad does not provide meal plans, workout plans, or a list of key steps to follow. What he does provide is sound advice, gleamed from years of research and personal practice. The advice is down to earth. It is about learning to have a healthy relationship with food. To be moving or lifting. And to find a balance. Something you can maintain long term.

I regret not having read this book years ago. But I am thankful I finally picked it up and have read it, and now I am starting to applies the lessons learned. I can easily recommend this book. 

Books by Brad Pilon:
Dirty Dozen -Top 12 Obsession Compulsive Eating Habits and How To Break Free
Eat Stop Eat Progressions
Flat Belly Forever
Good Belly Bad Belly
How Much Protein
The Air You Breathe
The Book on Heat
The Ten Day Diet Solution
Thin From Within
…
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Tuesday, 22 March 2022

The Bible in a Year Retreat - Fr. Mike Schmitz and Jeff Cavins - Ascension Press



This retreat ran the first time February 18-20 2022. It was an excellent experience. And If you have done the Bible in a Year Podcast, are currently working through it, or just have a passion for the bible, Fr Mike or Jeff this is a must attend event for you the next time it is offered. 

I was excited for this even from the first I heard about it. I signed up for early notice. I signed up as soon as I received notice that registration was open. Shortly after I registered I received an invite to sign up for a small group during the weekend. I really had no idea what to expect for the weekend but as a big fan of Father Mike and Jeff’s work I knew it would not disappoint. Not only did it not disappoint I consider it an exceptional retreat. 

First the technical aspects. The event was hosted by Relatu, I work full time in IT and have been attending events like this for years. Events hosted by VMWare, Microsoft, Oracle … And I can state from what I saw an experienced this event was pulled off flawlessly from a technology perspective. I had three tabs open all weekend in a browser. One for the main stages, one for my small group, and one for the agenda and attending the ‘Community Connects’ and Expo. Staff from Relatu were online and available all weekend. Before the event began they had a check in it was a queue and you could watch other people get support and test their sound and video. The staff were wonderful, and really knew their platform and how to help people with a wide range of backgrounds.  

Now to the content.

Community Connects – 5 scheduled sessions over the weekend, just click join and you are paired up with another participant for 3 minutes. You can extend the time if you want. You can encounter people from all over the world. And Mike and Jeff took part and shared a bit about their connections.

Small Group Sessions – 4 Breakout sessions if you signed up for a small group. There were 100 small groups this year. There was aser of questions and resources to respond to the main talks, and take what we learned and go forward.

Individual Reflection Time – Overlapped with Small group sessions. 30 minute blocks. Can be used for personal time during the retreat if not in a small group. 

Main Sessions – Events
Main Stage - Welcome & Kickoff with Jeff Cavins & Fr. Mike Schmitz
Guided Prayer - Liturgy of the Hours with Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio
Main Stage - Fr. Mike Schmitz - "Wrestling with God in Scripture"
Prayer - Lectio Divina with Dr. Christine Wood
Mainstage - Jeff Cavins - "How to Have a Lifelong Relationship with the Word"
Expo Hall - "Passing Scripture to the Next Generation" with Mark Hart
Prayer - Scriptural Rosary with Dr. Edward & Beth Sri
Mainstage - Q&A with Jeff Cavins & Fr. Mike Schmitz
Mainstage - Holy Hour with Fr. Mike Schmitz
Mainstage - Pre-Recorded Mass w/ Fr. Mike Schmitz
Mainstage - Closing Prayer & Reflections with Fr. Mike and Jeff

Like most retreats, or books for that matter to an extent what you get out of the BIY Retreat will depend on how much you put into it. But from what I saw in the small group, the connects, and the continuous Q & A thread during each session and even hours after the last event. The talks and presenters were excellent. After when attending retreats or conferences in the past there is usually a session or two that was not as good as the others, that was not the case here all of them were excellent. I picked up either courses or books by D'Ambrosio, Sri and Cavins to keep the learning from the retreat going. (We were provided a discount code for some resources in the Ascension store.)

One of the great benefits of the retreat is that all the Mainstage events were recorded; they were available for replay shortly after they ended within the event platform. They are also being made available after the event through Ascension’s Thinkific platform.  With these two options not only can you go back and listen again during the weekend, but afterwards. Frequently at the end of sessions and not juts the main Q & A Jeff and Father Mike answered questions live. You could see the up votes on questions and feedback. It was amazing.

The only recommendation I would make would be the option of Mass, Rosary, Lectio Divina each of the three days. It would have been cool if each of the other presenters (Dr. Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Dr. Christine Wood, Mark Hart, and Dr. Edward & Beth Sri) had been part of the community connects. 

This retreat was one of the most reasonably priced events I have ever attended. And the quality of the event could not have been higher. I would not hesitate to attend again if they offer another BIY Bible in a Year Retreat and would seriously consider other live virtual events from Ascension. A great retreat, thank you to all who helped put it on, organized it, and supported it. If this is offered again I strongly encourage you to invest in this retreat your spiritual life will not be the same! Guaranteed. 

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! 

The Bible in a Year Resources:
...

Books By Father Mike Schmitz:
Made for Love: Same-Sex Attraction and the Catholic Church


Contributed to:
Pray, Decide, and Don't Worry: Five Steps to Discerning God's Will
Don't Be Afraid to Say Yes to God! Pope Francis Speaks to Young People
…

Audio Talks by Father Mike Schmitz:
Living Life by Design, Not by Default
Love - Sacrifice - Trust He Showed Us the Way
From Love, By Love, For Love
True Worship
The Four Last Things
Jesus Is …
Changed Forever - The Sacrament of Baptism
We Must Go Out - The Sacrament of Confirmation
…

Books by Jeff Cavins:
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Monday, 21 March 2022

If the Shoe Fits - Sarah Mlynowski - Whatever After Book 2

If the Shoe Fits
Whatever After Book 2
Sarah Mlynowski
Scholastic
ISBN 9780545415682
eISBN 9780545510356
ASIN B00AHJOE42


About 6 years ago I read a few of these stories with my oldest. Now my youngest is reading them to me, and he sister has handed down the first several stories in the series. For some reason when we read this in 2016 we never got around to writing a review for it. But my youngest insists we review everything we read, so this review from 2022 is part of that effort. Between reading with my oldest and youngest this is the ninth time I have read a book in this series. The stories have great staying power. Even as an adult I can enjoy these books, not only the first time but rereading them again and again.

Mlynowski does an excellent job with this book and the series. My oldest was a reluctant reader. Back then when we read, I would read two pages for every page she read to me. Later she a few of the books in the series to her aunt and gram on a road trip. The whole family loves these stories from 8-year old’s to 79 year old’s. It is a wonderful series. 

Both my daughters and I give this story a solid 4/5 stars. We enoy the twists on the old tale. We appreciated that Abby learned a lesson about judging and realizes than many of her first assumptions were wrong. My daughters realized that things are not as they appear. We need to figure out why people are doing what they are doing. Especially if it seems weird, rude or strange. And to make sure that our own reactions are not worse than what is being done to us. 

The story is another excellent take on a familiar tale. They loved that Cinderlla needs to learn to stand on her own two feet. She needs to help helself before she gets help again from Faith God Mother.

The writings in these stories is excellent. My daughters and I love reading them together. And the retelling of this story is full of surprises. It is an great book in an excellent series.






Books by Sarah Mlynowski:
Magic in Manhattan Series:
Bras & Broomsticks
Frogs & French Kisses
Spells & Sleeping Bags
Parties & Potions

Whatever After Special Editions:
Abby in Wonderland
Abby in Oz
…


Upside-Down Magic Series:
Upside-Down Magic #1
Sticks and Stones #2
Showing Off #3
...

Other Books by Sarah:
Milkrun
Fishbowl
Monkey Business
As Seen on TV
Me Vs. Me
Gimme a Call
Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have)
Don't Even Think About It
Think Twice
Know It All
A Nice Fling is Hard to Find
A Little Bit Broken
Cruisin'
Party Girls
The Two-Month Itch
...

Books Coauthored:
See Jane Write (with Farrin Jacobs)
How to Be Bad (with E. Lockhart and Lauren Myracle)
...

Books Contributed To:
Girls' Night In
Girls Night Out
American Girls About Town
Fireworks
Vacations from Hell
...

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Sunday, 20 March 2022

Via Dolorosa with Pope Benedict XVI - Cardinal Camillo Ruini - CTS Devotions

Via Dolorosa with Pope Benedict XVI: 
Meditations and Prayers on the Way of the Cross
Pope Benedict XVI
Cardinal Camillo Ruini
ISBN 9781860827082
ISBN 186082708X
CTS Booklet D736


Each year I pick up a couple of new versions of The Way of the Cross or the Stations of the Cross. Between eBooks, physical books and audio editions I now have over 40 different versions. I have a few from Pope Benedict, and appreciate each of them. This one was new to me this year, even though it was published in 2011. It is one of a few older editions from the Catholic Truth Society by Pope Benedict that I am trying to track down. I have fallen in love with the books and booklets from the Catholic Truth Society. I have read over 250 in the last 5 years and have nearly that many on my wish list. This specific book is out of print, and there is no digital edition available. It took me a while to track it down, but it was well worth it. I tracked this one down last summer but waited until Lent this year to pray it. I regret that decision now. Each year I pick a few versions to pray during Lent. I attempt or plan to pray a Stations each day during Lent, and on Fridays throughout the rest of the year. This one will become a mainstay.

The description of this volume is:

“These meditations by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, former Vicar General of Rome, were composed in Lent 2010 for the annual; ‘Way of Cross’ led by the Holy Father at the Colosseum. Well known Gospel Passages, prayers and beautiful Illustrations are powerfully drawn together in these probing meditations on suffering, the cross, the place of evil and sin in our world and on the overpowering love of God’s suffering Servant ‘who died so that we may live’. Ideal for private use or by smaller and larger groups.”

I agree this is an excellent edition for both personal and corporate use. If it was still in print I would pick up a set for my parish. We have a few different sets that father uses on Friday’s through Lent. This volume has no real preface or conclusion. There is a chapter called Introduction but it begins with an opening Hymn and then a meditation, and opening prayer. 

This is a wonderful stations. Each station has a full page artwork and each stations is 4 pages in the volume. I really enjoy this version of The Way of The Cross, it is one I will use frequently going forward. It is another excellent devotion from the Catholic Truth Society. It is great for use during lent, or throughout the year. It is well worth tracking down. I highly recommend this version.



Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! For other reviews of books from the Catholic Truth Society click here.

For all other reviews of Stations of the Cross click here.

Other Stations of the Cross from the Catholic Truth Society:

Books by Benedict XVI:
The Way of the Cross - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - Pope Benedict XVI
Finding Life's Purpose: Inspiration for Young People
Don't Be Afraid To Be Saints - with Pope John Paul II
Confession Advice and Encouragement from Pope Benedict XVI 
From the Depths of Our Hearts - Pope Benedict XVI and Robert Cardinal Sarah
Way of the Cross Meditations and Prayers
Way of Calvary: Stations of the Cross 
Spiritual Masters Fathers and Writers of the First Millennium 
Spiritual Masters Medieval Fathers and Writers
Jesus, the Apostles and the Early Church and Church Fathers 
...                  







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Saturday, 19 March 2022

Borne on the Wind - Alice Curtayne

Borne on the Wind
Alice Curtayne
ISBN 9781950970810


I will be honest, I picked this book up never having read a description, review or really knowing anything about it. In fact I had always thought it was one of Curtayne’s novels. I picked it up because it was a new edition of a long out of print book by Alice Curtayne. A few years back I encountered the works of Alice Curtayne. I became fascinated by them. I was able to track down about a dozen of the 32 books and booklets I believe she wrote. It should be noted that this reprint edition from Cluny is very well done. Unlike many book brought back from the public domain, this volume went through a process of a high quality scan. And a complete re-typesetting. Cluny is dedicated to restoring quality editions of old books, focused on the Catholic Tradition. Their motto is: ‘Promote the tradition. Preserve the Past.’ Which is a very worthy cause. Unfortunately, there is not an eBook edition of this, nor of any of the other five Alice Curtayne volumes they have resurrected. It seems to be rather random which of their books end up with electronic editions. More the pity. But back to this volume. The description of the new Cluny edition is:

“Borne on the Wind opens a wide window onto fourteen little-known but remarkably vibrant people, places, and moments of history, spanning fifteen centuries and the entire European continent. Part One, “Today and Yesterday,” covers such figures and events as Blessed Matt Talbot, Theobald Mathew, and the 1932 Eucharistic Congress in Dublin. Part Two, “Far and Wide,” describes an array of topics, ranging from the “Vincete la battaglia del grano” in Italy and the proper time to build a Cathedral to the septecentenary of St. Anthony of Padua and the the letters of St. Catherine de Ricci. First published in 1934, Borne on the Wind evidences the lavish attention to detail, vivid descriptive powers, and resilient humor and hopefulness that marked Curtayne’s career of writing.”

And the sections and chapters in this book are:

I Today and Yesterday
     The Silence of Matt Talbot
     The Eucharistic Congress in Dublin
     An Excursion into the Fifth Century
     The Paradox of Theobald Mathew
     Irish Fioretti
     Derryane
     Saint Patrick and the Cyclops

II Far and Wide
     Italy’s Battle of the Wheat
     The Septecentenary at Padua
     The Truth About Giovanni Papini
     Saint Catherine of Siena
     The Letters of Saint Catherine De Ricci
     On Building a Cathedral When the Time Is Not Ripe
     The Confessions of Saints Augustine and Patrick

Many of the pieces in this volume were previous published in magazines, newspapers, and periodicals. The Acknowledgements states:

“For permission to reprint the various papers that form this book, grateful thanks to the Management of The Clergy Review, London, and to the Editors of The Spectator, London; The Missionary, Washington; The Cathedral Record, Liverpool; The Irish Rosary, The Father Mathew Record, Assisi, and The Standard, Dublin. Since publication, all the essays have been rewritten for the purpose of reprinting in book form.”

This book was originally published in 1934, and all of the pieces would have predated that. And what we have is fourteen wonderful pieces. This volume was very hard to put down once I started. It flowed from one excellent piece to another. A mix of people, places and events. Masterfully written. Finding out about the Battle of Wheat in Italy might not seem fascinating but it was. Reading about Matt Talbot was inspiring. And the comparisons between Saint Patrick and Francis was illuminating. 

This is an excellent volume. And we owe a debt of gratitude to Cluny for bring it back in print. I highly recommend this wonderful collection. If you are already a fan of Curtayne’s I am certain you will enjoy it. It you are unfamiliar with her and her works it is a great starting point. 

Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2022 Catholic Reading Plan! 

Books and Booklets by Alice Curtayne:
A Recall to Dante
Francis Ledwidge: A Life of the Poet
Lough Derg: St. Patrick's Purgatory
Patrick Sarsfield
Saint Anthony of Padua
St. Bernard Doctor of The Church 1933

Books Edited by Alice Curtayne:
The Complete works of Francis Ledwidge
...

Books Translated by Alice Curtayne:
Labours in the Vineyard by Giovanni Papin
...

Books Contributed to by Alice Curtayne:
...

Three Great Catholic Writers That You Might Never Have Heard Of! Curtayne - Lord - Powers







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